THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 16, 1995 TAG: 9502160357
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
New regulations go into effect this week for young Europeans who care for children of American working parents.
The rules, published Wednesday in the U.S. Federal Register, are designed to both protect the live-in baby sitters, called au pairs, and the young children in their care.
But the final regulations are much more relaxed than those originally proposed in December.
``They are a lot more palatable to both host families and agencies who place au pairs,'' said Kathy Sparrow, regional director for AuPairCare, an agency that has about 50 au pairs placed in Hampton Roads.
The U.S. Information Agency, which oversees the program that places foreign nationals for a year of cultural exchange and child care, originally proposed requiring an au pair be at least 21 years old to care for a child less than 2 years old. The agency dropped that requirement after being barraged with objections from host families.
The agency did increase the weekly stipend for au pairs to $115 a week from the $100 a week they had been receiving. But the December proposal would have increased the weekly amount to $155. Host families complained the higher increase would have kept many middle-class families from participating in the program.
The new regulations also require more screening and background checks of both au pairs and host families. Au pairs will also receive more child-development education and safety training.
Agencies that place au pairs no longer can require an au pair to place a $500 performance bond. Sparrow said agencies are concerned that au pairs may leave their posts before their year is up if agencies can't require the ``good-faith'' bond.
But other than that, the au pair-placing organizations can live with the new regulations, especially given the tough rules first proposed. ``The rules are fair,'' Sparrow said.
The U.S. Information Agency retooled the regulations after reports of abusive behavior by some au pairs and host families, and the death in August of a Loudoun County infant fatally shaken while in the care of a 19-year-old Dutch au pair.
The agency received about 3,500 letters from host families and au pair organizations during the 30-day public comment period after the regulations were first proposed in December.
Those comments were taken into account in the revisions, but the U.S. Information Agency also tried to make sure the program maintained its educational and cultural exchange objectives. by CNB